Dreamworld Thunder River Rapids Ride crash is one of a string of disasters to hit the amusement park

Four people died at the Australian theme park after two were thrown clear of the ride, while the other two were left trapped inside

By Victoria Craw and Charlotte Willis, news.com.au

26th October 2016, 3:17 pm

Updated: 26th October 2016, 3:18 pm

THE tragic deaths of four people in the horror crash at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast are the latest in a string of disasters to hit the amusement park that could prove to have a nightmarish cost.

News that two men and two women died after a freak ride “malfunction” left them with injuries “incompatible with living” ricocheted around the world as the deadliest theme park disaster in recent years.

The raft crashed into another raft at the top of the ride, flipping the vessel and tragically drowning the riders

Reuters

Four people were killed when the raft flipped over and crushed them

EPA

One of the ride's cars flipped over on a conveyor belt in the tragic incident

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A man and his daughter hug outside the theme park in Queensland, Australia

EPA

A mourner pays their respects to the four theme park visitors who lost their lives

EPA

Mourners laid flowers for the victims outside the theme park today

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A member of the Queensland Police examines the scene of the accident

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Mourners lay flowers outside the theme park - which is due to reopen on Friday

'She’s absolutely terrified'

SPEED QUEEN

“A tragedy like this isn’t an act of God, it’s not a freak accident,” she said. “They tend to occur ­because of a disregard of someone’s safety.”

Other incidents in recent years have plagued the popular theme park. In December 2015, senior tiger handler, Keith McChlery, was bitten on the shin by a five-month-old cub named Kai, but dismissed it as the animal being a “bit cranky.”

“That’s what they do at that age,” he said at the time. “That’s all part of the process of him learning what he can and can’t do.”

Mr McChlery sported a sizeable wound after the run-in with the cub.

Dreamworld CEO 'devastated and shocked' by fatal accident

In June 2009, a helicopter crash that occurred in the car park was investigated by authorities after four tourists were hospitalised with minor injuries.

The experienced pilot was praised for having escaped a disaster at the time after moving the aircraft to an empty area. However it was later revealed there was not enough fuel in the tank.

Kate Goodchild was killed in the theme park accident while her children watched on in horror

Caters News Agency

Roozi Araghi was another of the tragic victims

Caters News Agency

A third victim of the Gold Coast theme park crash was Luke Dorset (pictured)

“Dreamworld is working as quickly as possible to establish the facts around the incident and is working closely with emergency authorities and police to do this. Dreamworld’s focus and priority is with the families of those involved in this tragedy and will be providing an update to the public as soon as information becomes available,” a company statement said.

ASX-listed Ardent also owns the neighbouring WhiteWater World on the Gold Coast. Ardent shares fell to $2.35 at the close of trading.

A mum's chilling warning about Dreamworld

Just days ago, a Gold Coast mum named Tracy Christensen posted a lengthy complaint to the park’s Facebook page raising her safety concerns.
On October 10, Ms Christensen wrote her family was repeatedly told to leave rides due to “operational issues”.
However, her worries were magnified when her children went on The Claw ride.
She wrote: “The kids get off The Claw and said one of their belt buckles come undone right up in the air. I told the attendants — they didn’t listen. I went and told the manager, and he said he will call someone to go have a look, yet they continued to let people on the ride and keep operating."
“I went back to the manager and questioned it and he tells me that the belt buckle is an added safety feature Dreamworld added to the seats, so if they come undone they are still safe.
“There must have been a reason they added those belt buckles or they wouldn’t have bothered.”
Ms Christensen said the log ride, where the incident occurred in April, was also broken.
“Having five rides with operational issues is not good enough," she wrote.
Then, she gave the chilling warning: "Someone will get seriously injured or killed one day!”

Dreamworld has committed to investigating the cause and police warned the “complex” task will involve heavy machinery and will take a long time.

Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate described the tragedy as “one of the saddest days in our city’s history”.

Speaking on the ABC on Wednesday morning, Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: “This will have to be, I think, by my memory the worst theme park tragedy that we’ve seen in Queensland, and that’s why this investigation needs to be thorough ... we need to ensure that everything is looked at to ensure this never ever happens again.

Police reveal details of the accident on the Thunder River Rapids ride at Dreamworld

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Dreamworld chief executive Craig Davidson addresses the media

AP:Associated Press

Ambulances are seen parked outside the theme park yesterday

FATHER FEELS 'SICK' OVER SALES

A MELBOURNE man who took his two-year-old daughter on the ride an hour before the tragic accident slammed Dreamworld for continuing to sell merchandise as an emergency unfolded at the scene.
Jesse Lovett travelled from Victoria with his young daughter and sister’s family to visit Dreamworld and entered the park around 10am on Tuesday, he told news.com.au.
He said they noticed helicopters hovering above around 2:30pm in the afternoon, but now feels “ill” that parkgoers were not notified sooner about the accident - being left to queue for other rides and pay for merchandise while others were fighting for life.
"All the Dreamworld music was on. I couldn’t even tell that anything was wrong. That’s what makes me feel a bit sick.
“I was just wondering why they were still selling photos? I’m just concerned they were negligent.”
Mr Lovett said after hearing reports from the crowd about the accident they were not told anything by staff and were able to stay taking photographs later sold to them on a USB for $50.
"The thing that keeps making me feel sick was that there was like big lines there. Those people waited for 30 minutes to die and it doesn’t feel right to me at all. It feels weird that I got to go home and that family didn’t."

“Dreamworld has been operating for many decades in this state, it is iconic on the Gold Coast and iconic to the rest of the world.”

In September 2015, in an incident not related to Dreamworld, UK theme park company Merlin Attractions Operations was fined $7.9 million for health and safety failures that led Vicky Balch, then 19, and Leah Washington, then 17, to have their legs amputated after riding “The Smiler” roller coaster at Alton Towers.

Sixteen people were injured in the accident and Merlin was found to be at fault because it did not have a system to prevent “human errors”.

Chief executive Nick Varney admitted responsibility and said the company “let people down with devastating consequences”.

“In accepting responsibility and liability very early on we have tried to make the healing and compensation process as trouble free as possible for all of those involved,” he said.

It follows the death of one person on a roller coaster in Osaka, Japan in 2007, and the deaths of three people in Canada in 1986.

Also, the iconic amusement park SeaWorld was forced to scrap its captive breeding program after the documentary Blackfish exposed the conditions Orcas were kept in.

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